The present invention relates to a service offering system and, more particularly, to a service offering system designed to provide services relative to package media such as Mini-discs (trademark).
In recent years, network services offered illustratively by Internet service providers have rapidly become available, prompted by the widespread use of the Internet or similar networks. One of such services involves allowing content data such as digital audio data to be downloaded by customers for a fee.
Once disadvantage of that type of service is that preparatory to getting payable service offerings over the network, users must enter their credit card numbers for subsequent settlement of charges for the service rendered. The practice has inspired fears that personal information could be diverted off the network and abused.
A system proposed as a solution to the problem above requires that media, not the users who purchased them, be considered eligible for services offered by the system over the network. This system, however, is incapable of distinguishing between legitimately marketed media and their illegal copies; the system has no means of predicting the amount of services that are to be eventually offered over the network.
Other conventional systems have required that each user contract with a particular service provider before getting network services therefrom. In establishing a connection with the service provider, the user must make entries to complete such settings as a personal ID, a password and an access point. The process can often be a tedious, time-consuming chore.
The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances and provides a service offering system that allows a service provider to offer diverse services with respect to media.